1. He didn't think he would win. "I was expecting that Carson [Daly] would call Dia's name and I was just prepared to hug her and tell her that I loved her. But then he called my name and I was just not expecting it," he said. "Going into this show I learned to keep my expectations low and to not really have expectations at all."

3. He attended University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, where he graduated with a degree in music education. There, he also founded an R&B a cappella quintet that performed at Apollo Theater in New York City.

4. He became the lead singer of neo-funk group EmCQ, which wrote music inspired by Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Maceo Parker and Tower of Power. "Being in that band really helped me grow vocally. I had never actually fronted a band or done anything like that before. I found another gear that I could kick into that I didn't know I had," he says on his website. He also became the lead singer of Derek Trucks Band, which was led by The Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks. They toured together for two years.

5. His first three-song solo album sparked a bidding war, he ended up at Capitol, where he released two full-length albums before leaving the label. He released his third album, The Truth-Acoustic EP. In addition to performing with Stevie Nicks Wednesday's show, he's also sang with Joss Stone, Darius Rucker, The Indigo Girls, Chaka Khan and Anthony Hamilton.